Gombe 2027 : MURIC protests omission of Pantami’s name by INEC
By Adesina Wahab A group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has described the omission of the name of Prof. Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe after a…
MURIC, a Lagos-based Muslim rights advocacy group led by Professor Ishaq Akintola, has long positioned itself as a watchdog against perceived marginalisation of Muslims in Nigerian public life, frequently weighing in on appointments, elections, and policy decisions it views through a religious-equity lens. Prof. Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami, a former federal minister of communications and digital economy, has previously drawn public attention and controversy over past remarks attributed to him, making him a recognisable but sometimes polarising political figure ahead of Gombe State's 2027 governorship race.
The dispute centres on INEC's released list of governorship aspirants or candidates for Gombe, from which Pantami's name was reportedly missing despite his bid under the PDP banner. INEC, as Nigeria's electoral umpire, is responsible for screening and publishing candidate lists ahead of elections, and omissions of this kind typically trigger questions about documentation, party primaries, or administrative processes. MURIC's response, including its call for Tinubu to act against the INEC chairman over claims of religious bias, adds a political and religious dimension to what INEC has not yet publicly explained, leaving the actual cause of the omission — procedural or otherwise — unconfirmed.